"The Government Accountability Office (GAO) report (.pdf), released on Tuesday, shows that the government of Iraq has spent less money than the United States in reconstructing vital infrastructure despite a growing surplus in Iraq's treasury. Focusing on raw dollar figures, the report estimates that the government of Iraq has spent $3.9 billion since 2005 on security, oil, water and electricity projects.

"Because of high oil prices, the government has been taking in more money than it's spending, accumulating billions of dollars during this same time period. Currently Iraq's budget surplus is estimated at $29 billion, with a possible surplus of an additional $50 billion in 2008.

"Much of the money that was spent by US taxpayers on Iraq's initial reconstruction went directly into the pockets of private US corporations under the direction of L. Paul Bremer, former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority, which ruled Iraq in the months following the invasion. His decision to fire the roughly 120,000 Iraqi government workers and completely privatize the country's reconstruction has been blamed for much of the political chaos that has gripped the country since the invasion." -- the complete story here.